Judas goat

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A Judas goat is a trained goat used at a slaughterhouse and in general animal herding. The Judas goat is trained to associate with sheep or cattle, leading them to a specific destination. In stockyards, a Judas goat will lead sheep to slaughter, while its own life is spared. Judas goats are also used to lead other animals to specific pens and on to trucks. The term is a reference to the biblical traitor Judas Iscariot.

The phrase has also been used to describe a goat that is used to find feral goats that are targeted for eradication. The Judas goat is outfitted with a transmitter, painted in red and then released. The goat then finds the remaining herds of feral goats, allowing hunters to exterminate them.

The phrase was also used in WWII to denote brightly colored airplanes used to marshall fleet of bombers before embarking on a mission.

The Sonderkommando of the Nazi concentration camps were also a kind of Judas Goat.^{[citation needed]} They were Jewish prisoners who would help unload the incoming trains and direct people to the gas chambers.